


desirable connections

by cryingoverfiction



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Bisexual Lance, Canon Divergence, Gay Keith, Langst, M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, TW: Self Harm, i can't tag, i think, klance, klangst, lots and lots of angst, soulmates can feel each others pain, soulmates can hear each others thoughts, tw: death, tw; suicidal thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 09:22:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12650721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryingoverfiction/pseuds/cryingoverfiction
Summary: Keith and Lance are soulmates.they can feel each other's pain,hear each others thoughts,and anything on their skin appears on the other.to have a connection so strong is rare, and envied by most,but for the twoo of them, its a curse.





	desirable connections

**Author's Note:**

> I'm baaaack, with another Klance fic! Do I even write any other ships these days?  
> basically I hate the soulmate au, i feel like it takes away the right to choose a partner, to fall in love properly but I read a couple of fics and had to put my own spin on it.   
> I'm sorry but it won't be pretty.   
> I'm going to break these two.  
> enjoy!

Soulmates are rare. It’s strange to ever encounter more than one pair of soulmates in a lifetime. 

Lance had always been told stories of soulmates, usually from his _Abuela_. She would tell him about how she first felt his pain when she was 10 years old, how the first strange marking was a  dove on her shoulder when she was 17. Her soulmate had gotten a tattoo and it almost got her kicked out of her home. She told him about the first thought in her head that wasn’t hers. How her soulmate thought of how badly he wanted his mothers famous _Ropa Vieja_ instead of the rations the military was giving him.

Lance grew up wishing he could have a soulmate, to have someone who loved him unconditionally, to be there whenever he needed.

Lance was 9 when she told him that she felt when he died. It was 1943, and she woke up at 4 in the morning feeling like she couldn’t breathe. Like her lungs were filling with water, then it stopped. Her dove disappeared, and that was that.

Lance had always assumed that her soulmate was his _Abuelo,_ and that was the moment that Lance changed his mind - he didn’t want a soulmate, not if falling in love, but never meeting them and then feeling them die was a risk.

And on the night before he and his family moved to America, Lance woke with a jolt as he felt his back flare up in pain, and his shoulder, as well as his head.

He had a soulmate, and she was in trouble. Lots of trouble.

* * *

Lance was at school, looking out the window, longing to be at the beach instead of listening to his teacher ramble about his love for Hamlet,  when he felt a pinch at his arm, he gasped at the sensation. A couple of classmates looked at him before turning their attention back to the teacher.

He looked down at his forearm and saw what looked like the beginning of a rose. Lance watched in awe as the drawing formed on his arm. The intricate details of the petals, the thorns sticking out from the stem, the time she put into making the flower look amazing. Lance smiled to himself, his soulmate was one hell of an artist.

Then he noticed that the rose was beginning to be surrounded by barbed wire.

Maybe she was one hell of a bad ass too.

* * *

 

Lance was always careful to make sure he only so much as stubbed a toe. He didn’t want to cause his soulmate any pain whatsoever and judging by what he felt almost every night, he didn’t want to cause her anything more. He often woke in the middle of the night feeling blows to the lower half of his body.  She stopped drawing on her arm with her pens and took to razors. It startled Lance when thin red lines appeared along his wrist, stinging like a bitch. It hurt. Both physically and emotionally. He had instantly dashed for his pen and begged her to stop, she wasn’t as alone as she thought.

Lance missed her little drawings of swords, some skull and crossbones, the constellations, she even drew a horse once.

He missed the little conversations they’d have, about school, about their families – he learned that she didn’t have one, so he left it at that, wanting to be able to talk about the nitty gritty when they met each other, when they fully comfortable with one another.

They never asked for each other’s names though, that was cheating. The lack of communication had him worried, he could only hope she got in contact soon.

* * *

 

It was another 18 months before they drew again, and this time they drew a meadow with a clearing. In the clearing, the word ‘Sorry’ had been spelled with what looked to be tulips. Lance smiled and put his arm to the side, making a mental note of replying to them later.

He brought his clenched fist up to his sister’s door and rasped his knuckles against the wood.

“Marisol, do you have a minute?” he asked.

The door opened, and the potent smell of nail polish wafted out. His eldest sister stood at the door, blowing on her fingernails with her eyebrows raised.

“What?” She asked

“How did you know you were a lesbian?” he mumbled, initially avoiding eye contact

His older sister’s eyes widened, and she motioned for him to come and sit on the bed.

“Lance, do you think you’re gay?” she queried, taking Lance’s hand

“Oh no, girls are definitely hot and awesome, as you know, but I also think that boys are really pretty, and I really want to kiss them”

“Lance, you’re 15, your hormones are changing. This is completely normal. You don’t have it all figured out right now, you can like boys and girls, or you could grow to like just one, you could grow to like all genders. Just don’t push yourself, and don’t push this.” Marisol said gently

“Is that what you did?” Lance asked

“ _dios mio no._ I thought one girl was attractive and spent the following three years trying to make myself straight” she laughed.

“don’t make that mistake, you’re valid, regardless of who you’re attracted to, take coming to terms with this, understanding this and dating in general at your own pace okay buddy?” his sister continued.

“I will Marisol. Do you think mama and papi will hate me?”

“how could they Lance? You’re their precious baby boy. Besides, they don’t hate me for who I am, they won’t hate you. You’ll be fine hermano, you can come to me whenever” she smiled, and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

“thank you, I love you, big sis”

“I love you too little bro”

* * *

 

Keith never expected to have a soulmate. His mom had left him about a week after he was born according to his father, who was always distant and cold. His father had died when he was 10. They were in a car accident, Keith had made it out with concussion, and minor back and shoulder injuries. He went to live in foster care.

The first family we went to was nice and ordinary. Keith liked it. Their son, Takashi Shirogane, told him all about soulmates, how rare they were, the stories about the different identifiers for different couples, some who lived in close vicinity for most of their lives heard bells ring in their head when they walked by, some had the first words their soulmate said to them on their wrist, others had the last. The rarest was a combination of different identifiers.  

Over time Keith realised he _indeed_ had a soulmate, and they shared a connection some would kill for.

The first time he experienced this connection he was sitting in the dining room with Shiro, they were both doing homework when out of nowhere the thought popped into his head.

_Dying would be so easy from up here. I could do it. Just jump_

Keith stood up so fast his water spilled over his homework. Shiro looked up at him wearing a concerned expression.

“Keith?”

“Someone…Someone’s in my head” he breathed, gripping the table.

“Keith, that doesn’t make sen-“

“Shiro! Someone’s telling me I should die! I should jump. What’s happening to me?” He asked, hands beginning to shake. Shiro got up and went to Keith’s side. He placed a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder.

“Keith, look at me,” Shiro started, grabbing Keith’s chin with his free hand. He started demonstrating a breathing technique used to calm anxiety

“breathe with me okay? He continued, and Keith followed his lead.

After a moment he had calmed and Shiro was holding him.

“It was probably your soulmate Keith” Shiro suggested.

“So my soulmate is going to kill himself? Just my luck”

* * *

 

Keith was with a new family now. Shiro had gone off to the galaxy garrison and a month later illness took his father, and his mother couldn’t keep Keith any longer, so he was relocated.

These people were not as nice as the Shiroganes.

His foster father, named Bruce was abusive and a drunk. He hit his wife and he hit Keith.

Keith’s foster mother, a Peruvian woman named Andrea was distant, just as his biological father had been. Not that he blamed her. Since moving into that house he hadn’t been very open either.

His soulmate had been drawing on his skin, asking Keith where he was, was he safe? Keith never answered him.

While he knew that his soulmate could see whatever he drew on his skin, Keith didn’t realise he could also feel the pain he suffered through. That night he got his hands on a razor and started dragging it across his skin, slowly, taking in the pain, pain he was finally in control of.

He felt a pinch on his skin that wasn’t caused by him. He looked down and saw the pen marks appearing underneath the blood trickling down his arm.

_Stop._

_Please._

_God it hurts._

_You don’t have to do this._

_You have me._

Keith’s eyes widened. He could feel this? If he could feel this had he felt _everything?_ The countless beatings? The training until his muscles screamed at him to stop? The boxing lessons he took to try and _feel something_?

He grabbed the nearest pen and scribbled underneath his soulmates pleas to stop.

_Sorry_

That night, Keith packed his bag and snuck out of the house. He was going to try his best to stay out of trouble, and prevent his soulmate from feeling any unnecessary pain.

* * *

 

Keith was trying to sleep when he felt the familiar pinch on his arm. He turned the light on and looked at what his soulmate was writing.

_You there?_

It was 2 in the morning, what the hell did he want? Regardless Keith grabbed the nearest reply and scrawled a response.

**_It’s 2am, this better be important._ **

Keith impatiently stared at his arm. The black ink showed up quicker than it ever has before.

_For you too? We’re finally in the same time zone!_

Keith rolled his eyes. This guy was kind of a loser. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

**_That’s not important._ **

_Right, sorry. Its just my first night away from my family, my home and I’m really nervous._

Keith felt his blood pressure rise. This guy was talking about being nervous over being away from his family? When he knew what happened to Keith’s? He knew it wasn’t fair but before his impulse control could kick in he’d already written a response.

**_Get over it, you baby_ **

_Rude._

_You’re not helping. I’m in this cold dormitory and my roommate is a snorer._

_I thought my first night in the galaxy garrison would go easier than this._

Keith felt his body go rigid. He was in the galaxy garrison? No wonder they were communicating faster tonight. They’d never been this close before.

He felt his arm pinch more, but he ignored it.

He wasn’t ready for this.

He wanted to have his life together before he met the soulmate.

He wanted to have sorted his emotional baggage before he met the soulmate.

Keith kept ignoring whatever was being written on his arm and went back to sleep.

He didn’t write on his arm again, and a few months later, he dropped out of the galaxy garrison.

* * *

 

Keith was running to the castle, Allura not too far ahead, when he felt searing pain all over his body, but his back more so than the others. He nearly lost his balance. His back was on fire, literally. It felt like his paladin armour was burning his back.

What the hell was happening back on earth? At the galaxy garrison?

Then Keith had a terrible thought.

What if the Galra had already reached earth?

Was the soulmate being injured in battle? Or punished for disobeying an order?

Keith shook the thought from his mind. He had more pressing matters to attend to. They made it to the castle, and the pain had completely stopped. That either meant that the Soulmate had passed out or he was dead.

He tried not to think of that and instead focused on what the plan was once the shields were down and he and Allura were back in the castle.

When they were in, they both acted on adrenaline, and once he had taken down Sendak, he went to an injured Lance.

He told him they were a good team, and held his hand for a decent amount of time. Keith felt a pang of guilt for doing so. He had a soulmate, a soulmate that wasn’t Lance, he shouldn’t be feeling this way, but why did it feel so right?

* * *

 

Lance was sitting on the deck of the castle ship, staring at this sun in between two black holes that Pidge was basically frothing over. No one was speaking, just patiently awaiting Keith and Shiro’s return when Lance felt a jolt in his wrist. He remembered what soulmate pain felt like, and had been surprised that the magic of soulmates still worked galaxies apart.

Nothing followed the jarred wrist, so Lance spared no thought to it, figuring they had just fallen or something. Not too long after, he felt something slice his shoulder. Lance grabbed his shoulder and fell to the floor, groaning.

Hunk was by his side in an instant.

“Lance?”

“it’s my soulmate. Something’s wrong” Lance managed to say, before groaning again. Whoever his soulmate was, they were engaging in heavy combat.

Lance wished he had a pen, even though his soulmate wouldn’t be able to respond, at least they’d know he was still there.

The pain subsided after a short amount of time, and not long after that, the other paladins returned from the blade of Marmora.

Allura and Coran had told Keith and Shiro of Lance’s ordeal with his soulmate, and how his soulmate had injured his shoulder and Lance had felt it all.

Keith’s eyes widened, and he ran a hand over his wound on his shoulder.

This whole time, it had been Lance.

* * *

 

Keith being Keith didn’t know how to process such life changing information, so in typical Keith fashion, he ignored it.

And it worked well.

Until about a week after the mission to reclaim Naxzela.

Keith was sitting in his room staring at nothing when he felt a sting in his wrist. An all too familiar sting. He looked down and saw a message on his wrist.

_Whoever you are, I’m sorry._

Where the hell had he gotten a pen from?

Underneath the message, were pink, razor thin lines. It was all too familiar. Then a sensation he hadn’t experienced in years resurfaced. Someone was in his head again.

_They don’t need you anymore. With Keith they’re the perfect, unstoppable team. Open the airlock and throw yourself out. They don’t need you anymore._

Keith got up and ran, and cursed the fact that Lance’s room was the furthest from his.

He got to the door and pounded. No one answered.

“Lance! Come on open up! Please!” Keith practically screamed. He had to be in there. He couldn’t have made it to the airlock already, he’d have had to have passed Keith on the way there.

The door opened and Keith stumbled in.

“Jeez dude, no need-“

Keith ignored him and grabbed his arm, pulling up his sleeve. Keith put his own arm next to Lance’s showing the same marks.

Lance looked up at him with his lips slightly parted.

“Stop. Please. God, it hurts so much. You don’t have to do this. You have me” Keith breathed, repeating the same words Lance had written to him all those years ago.

Tears brimmed in Lance’s eyes.

“It’s you” he smiled. He moved and cupped Keith’s face, bringing Keith’s lips to his own.

Their first kiss, finally. Keith put one hand on Lance’s hip and other laced through his hair.

“I’ve waited for this day for so long” Lance said once they pulled apart.

* * *

 

Lance pulled himself toward Keith. He couldn’t move his legs, but he could still use his arms.

Keith was laying very still on the deck of the Galra ship. Lance finally reached his lover, who was still breathing.

“Keith?” he asked. He got no response.

He flashed back to his Abuela, telling him of her soulmate, feeling how he died. Lance knew this was it. He felt the life leaving his body, even though it was Keith’s.

He grabbed Keith’s hand and his eyes started to water.

“Come on baby, we’re nearly done. We’re so close. We can go home, get that dog you want. Don’t leave me now”

Keith remained silent. Lance was sobbing now.

“Keith! Wake up!”

But he did the opposite.

Lance felt as though a vital part of him had been removed. He felt when Keith died. The moment the man in his arms stopped breathing, something left his body too.

He felt so empty, so tired. If this was how it always felt, he applauded his Abuela for living on to marry another man, and continue her family line.

Lance held onto Keith’s body.

“Come back to me!” he screamed.

“Come on you stubborn asshole come back!”

But Keith did nothing.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting there, crying and screaming but it seemed to have caught the attention of one of the Galra, because he knew he’d just been shot.

He also knew that this was the final blow. In all the damage his body had sustained in this battle, he wasn’t making it out alive.

And as his vision blurred and the hallucinations start, he knows he’s okay with that, because he can see Keith motioning for him to join him.

So join him he did.

 

**Author's Note:**

> so as to how Lance's grandmothers soulmate died, he drowned when a torpedo sunk Mambi in WWII, I did very minimal research on this so I apologise if it's historically incorrect.


End file.
